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Sir Walter Raleigh 

AN ADDRESS 



BY 



Marshall DeLancey Haywood 




This address, originally delivered under the auspices of the 
Roanoke Colony Memorial Association, is republished by 
General Julian S. Carr, President of the Sir Walter 
Raleigh Monument Association, for the informa- 
tion of those who may contemplate contribut- 
ing to the fund being raised to erect a 
statue of Raleigh in the State Capital of 
North Carolina named in his honor 



EDWARDS ft BROUSHTON PRINTING CO.. RALEIGH. N. C 






SIR WALTER RALEIGH* 



An Address Delivered at Old Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island, 
North Carolina, at the Celebration of Virginia 
Dare Day, August 19, 1913. 



BY MARSHALL DeLANCEY HAYWOOD, 

Member Roanoke Colony Memorial Association, General Historian of the Sons of the 

Revolution, Historian of the Masonic Grand Lodge of North Carolina, 

Historiographer of the Diocese of North Carolina, etc. 



My Friends and Fellow-Countrymen: 

To be invited to appear before this company today, amid 
such inspiring surroundings, is an honor which might well 
natter the pride of any true American, and I value it most 
highly. For many years I have been a member of the Roan- 
oke Colony Memorial Association, but never until last night 
was it my privilege to set foot upon Roanoke Island. 

The purchase and reclamation of the site on which stand 
the remains of this old fortress were due to the efforts of the 
late Professor Edward Graham Daves, a native North Caro- 
linian residing in the city of Baltimore. This scholarly gen- 
tleman associated with himself a number of patriotic per- 
sons who were interested in historical and antiquarian work, 
and soon raised funds sufficient for the purchase of Fort 
Raleigh. During the Christmas holidays of 1893, I first had 
the pleasure of forming the acquaintance of Professor Daves 
when he came to my home town and delivered an interesting 
and instructive lecture on Roanoke Island and the daring 
Englishmen who first discovered and colonized it. In the 



*Owing to the length of this paper, parts were omitted in delivery 



2 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

following April I spent several happy days at his hospitable 
home in Baltimore, and there learned more of the work he 
had so much at heart, but a few months later I was greatly 
shocked to hear of his death, which occurred while he was on 
a visit to Boston. His only son at present surviving is Mr. 
John Collins Daves, of Baltimore, now vice-president of this 
Association. From its organization up to the time of his 
death, Professor Daves was president of the Association, and 
he was succeeded in office by his no less patriotic brother 
Major Graham Daves, of New Bern, in this State, who zeal- 
ously pushed forward the work. After the death of Major 
Daves, which occurred in 1902, Vice-President William D. 
Pruden became acting president, and later was succeeded by 
the present incumbent, the Reverend Robert Brent Drane, 
D.D. Both Mr. Pruden and Doctor Drane have rendered 
and are still rendering valuable services to the good cause 
of keeping alive the glorious memories of this spot. 

Nor must I fail to mention those who have filled the office 
of Secretary-Treasurer of this Association. The first Secre- 
tary-Treasurer was Professor John Spencer Bassett, a stu- 
dent and teacher of history, born in our State but now resid- 
ing in Massachusetts. Upon his resignation, Mr. A. B. An- 
drews, Jr., of Raleigh, was chosen. Miss Leah D. Jones (now 
Mrs. Charles L. Stevens), of New Bern, next succeeded; 
and, in turn, gave place to Mr. William Blount Shepard, of 
Edenton, who discharged the duties of that office until his 
much-lamented death last January. Mr. Shepard's succes- 
sor is the present capable and energetic incumbent, Dr. Rich- 
ard Dillard, also of Edenton. 

In making choice of a subject on which to speak this morn- 
ing, I have selected Sir Walter Raleigh, one of the great- 
est men of whom the annals of England can boast, and also 
one of the most versatile — statesman, colonizer, explorer, 
fort-builder, ship-builder, historian, courtier, soldier, sailor, 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 3 

scientist, chemist, poet, and orator. An English writer, Hep- 
worth Dixon, has said : "Raleigh is still a power among us ; 
a power in the Old World and in the New World ; hardly less 
visible in England than in America, where the beautiful 
capital of a chivalrous nation bears his name." To Raleigh 
belonged the masterful mind and guiding hand which first 
sent forth English civilization to this continent and this 
spot more than three centuries ago. 

There are countless variations in the spelling of the 
surname Raleigh,* but only one pronunciation — with a very 
broad Devonshire accent on the first syllable, as if it were 
written Rawley, and that was the way it was written when 
young Walter was entered as a student at the University of 
Oxford. He himself wrote it Ralegh, in later life. His- 
torians, as a general rule, use the orthography Raleigh, which 
is the form I shall adopt — from force of habit, as our State 
so named its capital city, wherein I have spent my life. 

When this land of ours was first discovered the "Virgin 
Queen" of England called it Virginia in honor of herself, 
but let me remind you that North Carolina is the "Virginia" 
of Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh. The present 
State of Virginia was not settled until 1607, when Elizabeth 
had been in her grave four years and when the heroic Raleigh 
was mewed up in the Tower of London by that great Queen's 
unworthy successor. The eminent English historian, James 
Anthony Froude, in his work entitled English Seamen in 
the Sixteenth Century, says: "Of Raleigh there remains 
nothing in Virginia save the name of the city called after 
him." Ladies and gentlemen, there is a very small village 
called Raleigh somewhere in West Virginia (which State was 
a part of Virginia until 1862), but I have personal knowledge 
of the fact that Doctor Eroude was slightly mistaken in his 
supposition that the "city of Raleigh" — North Carolina's 

•Stebbing's Life of Paleiph, pp. 30-31. 



4 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

beautiful capital — is in Virginia. I was born in the city of 
Raleigh, my home still stands within its limits ; and it grieves 
me bayond measure to see so great a historian as Froude com- 
placently present my native town to our sister State of Vir- 
ginia. I refuse to be moved in any such way. And then, 
too, Virginia has recently drawn so heavily upon North Caro- 
lina in the matter of men that she should be willing for us 
to keep both the city of Raleigh and Roanoke Island with 
this old fortress built by Sir Walter's colonists. There is 
scarcely an institution of any importance in Virginia today 
which has not had to come to North Carolina for its president. 
Among these are the University of Virginia, Washington 
and Lee University, the Union Theological Seminary, the 
Randolph-Macon Woman's College, the Virginia Life In- 
surance Company, and the Virginia Trust Company, while 
the general manager (though not titular president) of the 
Old Dominion Trust Company is also a North Carolinian. 
In view of all this, Ladies and Gentlemen, it does seem to me 
that Virginia should be duly grateful for what North Caro- 
lina has already done for her, and leave us in the quiet and 
undisturbed possession of Roanoke Island and our capital 
city of Raleigh. 

But I am drifting from my subject. I came here not to 
discourse upon self -exiled North Carolinians residing in Vir- 
ginia, but to call your attention to the career of Sir Walter 
Raleigh, under whose patronage came the English explorers 
who claimed this land in the name of Queen Elizabeth in 
the year of our Lord 1584. 

It may be well to state, at the outset, a fact already known 
to most of you, that Raleigh himself never saw the North 
American continent, though he was twice in South America. 
Nevertheless his was the world-vision and his was the purse 
without which the expeditions to this place would not have 
been undertaken so soon. 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. O 

Many of my hearers may recall the striking observation 
of Macaulay concerning the navy of Great Britain in the 
latter half of the seventeenth century. Said that historian: 
" There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy 
of Charles II. But the seamen were not gentlemen, and the 
gentlemen were not seamen." However true this may have 
been in the days of King Charles, it was widely different in 
the reign of his great predecessor Queen Elizabeth, many of 
whose fleets and vessels were commanded by men of high birth 
as well as approved valor. Sea-fighting was then considered 
a gentleman's trade, and there was no surer road to the 
Queen's favor than to join the ranks of those who were her 
main reliance when struggling with Spain for the freedom 
of the seas. In all England there was no shire so prolific of 
these hardy aventurers as Devon, the birthplace of Ealeigh. 
Says the novelist Kingsley : "It was the men of Devon, the 
Drakes and Hawkinses, Gilberts and Raleighs, Grenvilles and 
Oxenhams, and a host more of 'forgotten worthies' whom 
we shall learn one day to honor as they deserve, to whom 
England owes her commerce, her colonies, her very exist- 
ence." Sir Walter Raleigh was related by blood to the Gil- 
berts, Grenvilles, and Drakes, as well as other noted Devon- 
shire families, including the Courtneys, Carews, St. Legers, 
and Russells. 

In a recent biography of Sir Walter Raleigh by William 
Stebbing (who uses the orthography Ralegh) an account of 
the Raleigh family is given as follows : "The Raleghs were 
an old Devonshire family, once wealthy and distinguished. 
At one period five knightly branches of the house flourished 
simultaneously in the county. In the reign of Henry III a 
Ralegh had been Justiciary. There were genealogists who, 
though others doubted, traced the stock to the Plantagenets 
through an intermarriage with the Clares. The Clare arms 
have been found quartered with those of Ralegh on a Ralegh 



6 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

pew in East Budleigh Church. The family had held Sinall- 
ridge, near Axminster, from before the Conquest. Since the 
reign of Edward III it had been seated on the edge of Dart- 
moor, at Eardell. There it built a picturesque mansion and 
chapel. The Ealeghs of Fardell were, writes Polwhele, 'es- 
teemed ancient gentlemen.' But the rapacious lawyers of 
Henry VII had discovered some occasion against Wimund 
Ralegh, the head of the family in their day. They thought 
him worth the levy of a heavy fine for misprision of treason ; 
and he had to sell Smallridge." Wimund Raleigh, whose 
wife was a Grenville, left a son Walter, born in 1497. This 
Walter engaged at times in seafaring, and owned three sepa- 
rate estates, viz. : Eardell, Colaton-Raleigh, Wythecombe- 
Raleigh, and Bollams. His third wife was Mrs. Katherine 
Gilbert, widow of Otho Gilbert of Compton Castle and Green- 
way Castle, and a daughter of Sir Philip Champernoun of 
Modbury. To this marriage were born several children, 
among whom was Sir Walter Raleigh, of whom I shall speak 
today. 

Walter Raleigh, afterwards known to fame as Sir Walter 
Raleigh, was born at Hayes, in Budleigh Parish, Devonshire. 
Some accounts give 1552 as the year of his birth, though the 
inscriptions on several of his oldest engraved portraits seem 
to indicate that he was born in 1554. Two pictures, slightly 
differing, of the house where he was born may be found in 
the first volume of the History of North Carolina, by Francis 
L. Hawks, and in the fifth volume of Applet oris Cyclopaedia 
of American Biography. Raleigh's father, having determined 
that his son should have educational advantages becoming his 
station in life, entered him as a student in Oriel College at 
the University of Oxford, in 1568. In the following year 
young Raleigh went abroad and pursued his studies in the 
University of France, but left that institution to fight as a 
volunteer under the renowned Huguenot leaders the Prince 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 



de Conde and Admiral Coligny. He was present at the bat- 
tles of Jarnac and Moncontour ; but was absent from Paris, 
though still in France, at the time of the Massacre of St. 
Bartholomew. In 1576 he was again in London, but a year 
or two later went to the Netherlands and assisted the Hol- 
landers in their warfare against the Spaniards under the 
Duke of Alva. 

Soon after Raleigh's return to England from the Nether- 
lands his thoughts began to turn to the New World beyond 
the seas. His eldest half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 
had set hope on western discoveries as early as 1566, but at 
that time Queen Elizabeth was unwilling for him to absent 
himself from Ireland, where he was president of the English 
colony recently established in Munster. By 1578, however, 
Gilbert renewed his efforts, and was engaged in fitting out a 
fleet of eleven ships at Dartmouth, in Devonshire. This enter- 
prise Raleigh joined, but only seven of the eleven ships could 
be gotten to sea. Gilbert was Admiral of the fleet, Carew 
(afterwards Sir Carew) Raleigh, a brother of Walter, was 
Vice-Admiral, and Walter Raleigh commanded the Falcon. 
Though Gilbert had announced that he was going on a voyage 
of discovery, the unusually heavy armament carried by his 
ships led many to believe that the "discovery" of Spaniards 
was his chief aim. This fleet went to the Azores, and possibly 
as far as the West Indies, engaged in an undecisive fight with 
a Spanish sea-force, and lost one ship, which foundered in a 
gale — the others returning to Dartmouth in 1579. 

After his return to England with Gilbert's fleet, Raleigh 
spent some time in London; and, in June, 1580, was sent to 
Ireland as captain of a company which was to operate against 
the insurgent natives and their Spanish allies, the latter of 
whom had landed in that country to join forces with the ene- 
mies of England. These Spaniards, with the assistance of 
some Italians, had built Eort del Oro at Smerwick in county 



8 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

Kerry, and had heavily garrisoned that stronghold. The 
Lord Deputy of Ireland, Baron Grey of Wilton, together 
with the sea forces of Admiral Sir William Winter, besieged 
this fort in due time, and it later surrendered uncondition- 
ally. By Lord Grey's order, Raleigh and one Macworth 
(another officer of the besiegers) marched in and put to the 
sword more than four hundred Spaniards and Italians, also 
hanging such of the Irish as could be found there. Some of 
the foreign officers of rank were spared and held for ransom. 
Though Lord Grey gave the order for this butchery, we are 
forced to doubt if Raleigh had any scruples in performing 
his part of the bloody work. Of him his biographer Stebbing 
says: "Towards American Indians he could be gentle and 
just. His invariable rule with Irishmen and Anglo-Irishmen 
was to crush. " While Raleigh remained in Ireland he en- 
gaged in numerous skirmishes with the insurgents, also serv- 
ing as a member of the temporary commission for the govern- 
ment of Munster. Returning to England in 1581, he first 
attracted the personal notice of the Queen by throwing his 
handsome cloak over a muddy place in her pathway at Green- 
wich, thereby saving her shoes from being soiled. This inci- 
dent was first recorded in 1662 (less than fifty years- after 
Raleigh's death) by Fuller in his Worthies of England, Sir 
Walter Scott, as many of my hearers may remember, gives a 
graphic account of this piece of gallantry in the novel Kenil- 
worth. 

Whatever may have been the cause of Raleigh's rise in the 
favor of Queen Elizabeth, he soon became a man of great 
wealth in consequence of patents and monopolies received 
through royal grants. In 1583 he was given portions of all 
revenues from the wine licenses of the kingdom, thereafter 
aggregating from eight hundred to two thousand pounds 
sterling per annum. In 1584 he was knighted — an honor 
always sparingly bestowed by the hand of Elizabeth. In the 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 9 

year following be was made "Warden of the Stannaries" — 
which, translated into our American language, means Super- 
visor of the Tin Mines. He became Lord Lieutenant of 
Cornwall, and Vice-Admiral of the two counties of Corn- 
wall and Devon in 1585. In 1585 and 1586 he represented 
the shire of Devon in Parliament; and, in the latter year, 
obtained a vast land-grant (about forty thousand acres) in 
the Irish counties of Cork, Waterford, and Tipperary. This 
grant also included the salmon fisheries of Blackwater. He 
received, in 1587, grants of English lands in the shires of 
Lincoln, Derby, and Nottingham, which had been forfeited 
by Anthony Babington and other conspirators against the 
life of Elizabeth. He also became Captain of the Queen's 
Guard, thereby being thrown into personal attendance upon 
Her Majesty. 

I have already spoken of Raleigh's venture with Sir Hum- 
phrey Gilbert when the.latter's fleet went on a western voyage 
in 1578. In 1583 Gilbert fitted out another expedition of a 
similar nature. In his fleet of five vessels the largest was the 
bark Raleigh, furnished by Sir Walter Raleigh, who earnestly 
desired to command it in person, but the Queen needed his 
services at home, and forbade his departure from England. 
After two days sailing, the Raleigh left the remainder of 
Gilbert's fleet and returned to Plymouth, on account of sick- 
ness which had broken out among her crew, but the admiral 
continued on his way with his four remaining ships. He 
finally reached a place which is now a part of Newfoundland, 
and formally took possession of that locality in the name of 
Queen Elizabeth. • The expedition to Newfoundland was the 
last voyage of Sir Humphrey Gilbert. On his return he re- 
fused to take refuge in his largest ship, the Golden Hind, but 
cast his fortunes with those who manned the Squirrel, a little 
craft of ten tons, whose decks were already overburdened 
with heavy ordnance. In the midst of a great storm, south 



10 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

of the Azores, the heroic Gilbert was last seen, calmly sitting 
in his little ship with a book in hand, while night was ap- 
proaching. As he got within hailing distance of his comrades 
on the other vessels he called out the ever-memorable words 
"We are as near to heaven by sea as by land," and a little 
later his anxious friends on the Golden Hind saw the lights 
of the Squirrel disappear from the face of the waters. 

The tragic ending of this voyage of his beloved brother 
did not deter Sir Walter Ealeigh from further efforts to 
colonize America. In 1584, the year following, on the 25th 
of March (which was New Year's Day under the old Julian 
Calendar, then in use) he secured from Queen Elizabeth a 
charter or Letters Patent, empowering him or his heirs and 
assigns to "discover, search, find out, and view such remote 
heathen and. barbarous lands, countries, and territories not 
actually possessed of any Christian prince, nor inhabited by 
Christian people." He was also authorized to fortify any 
new settlements made under his authority and to "encounter 
and expulse, repel and resist, as well by sea as by land, and 
by all other ways whatsoever, all and every such person or 
persons whatsoever, as without the especial liking and license 
of the said Walter Ealeigh, and his heirs and assigns, shall 
attempt to inhabit within the said countries." It was pro- 
vided that the laws enacted for the government of the new 
settlements should be "as conveniently as may be, agreeable 
to the form of the laws, statutes, government, or policy of 
England, and also so as they be not against the true Christian 
faith now professed in the Church of England." This charter 
contained many other provisions, which it is not my purpose 
here to quote. Suffice it to say that Raleigh was thereby 
given what he most desired — an opportunity to extend the 
sovereignty of England over the lands and waters of the New 
World. 

Eor the carrying out of his plans, Raleigh secured the 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 11 

services of Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, two stalwart 
English sea-captains, and fitted up for their use two barks, 
"well furnished with men and victuals," in which they saile4 
out of the Thames on the 27th of April, 1584. Fortunately 
for history, a record of this voyage has been preserved in the 
volumes of Hakluyt, it being in the form of a report to Sir 
Walter Raleigh, written by Captain Barlowe. On June 10th 
the explorers reached the Canaries, and just a month later 
wended their way through the West Indies. They found the 
climate there very unwholesome, and many members of the 
two crews were taken sick. They tarried twelve days to re- 
cuperate and take on fresh supplies, and then struck out for 
this locality where good climate may always be found in 
abundance. Delicate odors from our Carolina coast were 
wafted to them before they sighted land, for Barlowe tells 
us that on the 2d of July "we smelled so sweet and so strong 
a smell as if we had been in the midst of some delicate garden 
abounding with all kinds of odoriferous flowers, by which we 
were assured that the land could not be far distant; and, 
keeping good watch and bearing but slack sail, the fourth of 
the same month we arrived upon the coast, which we sup- 
posed to be a continent and firm land, and we sailed along 
the same a hundred and twenty English miles before we could 
find any entrance or river issuing into the sea." 

Though the above quoted record says that the voyagers 
first reached our coast on the 4th of July, we must remember 
that the Independence Day we now celebrate on the Fourth 
of July does not fall on the same anniversary; for, between 
the Julian Calendar or "old style" then used and the Gre- 
gorian Calendar or "new style" now used, there is a differ- 
ence of ten days, making July 14th the present anni- 
versary of the coming of Raleigh's first expedition in 1584.* 

♦In the 18th century (Washington's birthday for example) the difference was eleven 
days, not ten. 



12 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

As already stated, Captains Amadas and Barlowe sailed 
up our coast one hundred and twenty miles before effecting 
a landing. Finally an inlet was discovered, and the explorers 
sailed in. Barlowe tells us that "after thanks given to God 
for our safe arrival thither/ 7 two boats were manned and a 
landing effected. After this, formal proclamation was made, 
declaring that England's sovereign was "rightful Queen and 
Princess of the same," and that the newly discovered country 
should be held for the use of Sir Walter Raleigh by authority 
of the Letters Patent issued to him by Her Majesty. 

Some difference of opinion exists as to which of the numer- 
ous North Carolina inlets Amadas and Barlowe first entered. 
Many believe that the inlet they used has since been closed 
by storms which have piled up sand-bars where the old chan- 
nel ran. It is not my purpose to discuss that matter here. 
It is sufficient for us to know that they were "conducted in 
safety to the haven where they would be," that they first re- 
turned thanks to God for deliverance from the dangers of the 
deep, and then began viewing the lands adjacent to their 
anchorage. 

The narrative of Captain Barlowe goes quite into detail 
explaining the habits and traits of the natives, the location 
of lands and waters, the fauna and flora of the country, and 
many other interesting conditions there existing, but too long 
here to be quoted. 

The ships were anchored for two days before any natives 
were seen by the explorers. On the third day they espied 
a small boat containing three men. Two of these remained 
in their canoe, and the third walked up the shore near the 
ships, later being taken on board and presented with some 
articles of apparel. After viewing the ships with interest, 
he returned to his own boat, later beginning to fish, and came 
back with a large supply of fresh fish which he presented to 
the English. The next day numerous Indians were seen in 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 13 

small boats, among them being Granganimeo, brother of the 
savage monarch who held sway in that locality. The king 
himself, Wingina by name, had recently been wounded and 
hence was unable to do the honors of the occasion. Gran- 
ganimeo left his boats and came up the shore, followed by 
forty of his braves. These spread a mat upon the ground, 
and the king's brother seated himself thereon, as did four of 
his principal followers. When the English approached the 
shore, they were invited to a seat on the mat by the Indians. 
Then Granganimeo "made all signs of joy and welcome, 
striking on his head and breast, and afterwards on those of 
his visitors, to show that all were one, at the same time smil- 
ing and making the best show he could of all love and famil- 
iarity." 

Speaking of the natives Captain Barlowe says: "After 
they had been divers times aboard the ships, myself, with 
seven more, went twenty miles into the river that runs to- 
wards the city of Skycoak, which river they call Occam ; and 
the evening following we came to an island which they call 
Eoanoak, distant from the harbor, by which we entered, seven 
leagues." Thus was this island of Roanoke discovered by the 
English. On it was a small village of nine houses, well forti- 
fied after the Indian fashion. Granganimeo being absent 
from this village, his wife came to the waterside to meet the 
explorers, and entertained them with much pomp and cere- 
mony, commanding her tribesmen to attend their wants, and 
feasting them with a profusion of savage hospitality. Of 
the natives it is recorded : "We found the people most gentle, 
loving, and faithful, void of all guile and treason, and such 
as live after the manner of the golden age." 

After trading with the Indians for some time, learning 
as much as they could of the country, and mapping the out- 
lines of the coast for future use, the explorers once more be- 
took themselves to their ships and sailed back to England, 



14 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

arriving safely about the middle of September. They took 
with them two natives, Wanchese and Manteo, of whom I 
shall have more to say later on. 

At the end of Captain Barlowe's narrative is a "record of 
some of the particular gentlemen and men of account'' who 
were witnesses of the events which had transpired. They 
were: Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, Captains; and 
William Greenvile, John Wood, James Browewich, Henry 
Greene, Benjamin Wood, Simon Ferdinando, Nicholas Pet- 
man, and John Hewes, members of the ship's company. 

One laughable mistake occurred during the stay of the 
English in the vicinity of Roanoke Island. When they first 
arrived, they pointed to the mainland and made signs to an 
Indian that they wished to know the name by which the 
whole continent was called. The Indian, not understanding, 
replied: "Win-gan-da-coa." So it was duly reported to Sir 
Walter Raleigh that the domain which the Queen had granted 
him was named "Wingandacoa," and it was formally recorded 
under that name in the contemporaneous descriptions and on 
the maps of the newly discovered country. When later voya- 
gers learned more of the dialect used by the savages, they 
ascertained that when the Indian had said "Win-gan-da-coa" 
his remark (when translated) meant: "You wear gay 
clothes." 

When Amadas and Barlowe returned to England with their 
tales of strange adventure, and glowing accounts of the dis- 
coveries they had made, also showing Wanchese and Marteo 
in their wild and gorgeous costumes, the effect on the public 
mind was almost magical. Sturdy adventurers of all ranks 
and classes eagerly sought an opportunity to gain fortunes in 
expeditions across the Atlantic. Elizabeth, the "Virgin 
Queen," was so impressed with the accounts brought back 
by Amadas and Barlowe that she named the new land "Vir- 
ginia" in honor of her single condition in life. As for Sir 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 15 

Walter Raleigh, his fame spread far and wide, and he at 
once sought opportunities to send forth other fleets. As com- 
mander of his next expedition he was fortunate in securing 
the services of his kinsman, Sir Richard Grenville, member 
of an ancient Devonshire family whose name has been spelled 
in almost as many ways as that of Raleigh. Sir Richard him- 
self signed it "Greynvil," the printed accounts of his voyages 
have it recorded "Greenville" and "Granville," many (if not 
all) of his descendants write it "Granville," and historians 
generally use the orthography "Grenville," which last men- 
tioned style I shall adopt. The naval annals of the world 
can not boast of a more heroic figure than this selfsame Sir 
Richard Grenville, who was afterwards mortally wounded 
while fighting one English vessel, the Revenge, against a 
Spanish fleet of fifty-three ships — an exploit immortalized 
by Tennyson in his poem The Revenge, a ballad of the fleet, 
1591. 

It was on the 9th day 'of April, 1585, that Sir Richard 
Grenville sailed out of Plymouth with the second expedition 
of Sir Walter Raleigh. Grenville's fleet consisted of the fol- 
lowing ships : the Tiger, the Roe-Buck, the Lion, the Elizar 
beth, the Dorothy, and two small pinnaces. The "principal 
gentlemen" in this expedition are set down as Master Ralph 
Lane, Master Thomas Candish [Cavendish], Master John 
Arundell, Master Raymund, Master Stukeley, Master Bre- 
mige, Master Vincent, and Master John Clarke. Some of 
these, we are told, were captains, and others were needed for 
their "counsel and good discretion." Among these latter were 
Thomas Hariot, the historian of events occurring on the 
voyage, and John White, an artist whose paintings of Indian 
life are still preserved in the British Museum. We shall learn 
more of White later on. Ralph Lane, who afterwards won 
the honor of knighthood, was Grenville's second in command, 
and was later left at Roanoke Island as Governor of the 



16 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

Colony. After leaving England on its voyage to America, 
the fleet touched at the Canaries and Antilles, and then an- 
chored at Cotesa, a small island near the island of St. John. 
The voyagers rested a day at Cotesa, and then sailed over 
to Mosquito Bay, on the island of St. John. There Grenville 
landed with some of his men and erected a fortification, later 
adding to his fleet by building a new pinnance, which was 
finished and launched on the 23d of May. The Spaniards 
on the island sent a flag of truce and protested against the 
erection of this fortress, but Grenville somewhat cooled their 
resentment by saying he had only stopped for supplies ; that 
he would depart from their shores in peace if these supplies 
were furnished, but would use force if they were not. The 
Spaniards promised compliance, but failed to keep their 
word, whereupon Grenville set fire to his fortification and 
sailed away, bent on squaring up matters with the Dons. 
Within the next two days he captured two Spanish frigates, 
ransomed the officers and some passengers of rank, and placed 
Lane in command of one of these vessels. The fleet needing 
salt, Captain Lane went to the southwest side of the island 
of St. John, and landed twenty men who threw up an en- 
trenchment, after which they commenced to get salt. We 
are told that, when the Spaniards beheld Lane, there "came 
down towards him two or three troops of horsemen and foot- 
men, who gave him the looking and gazing on but durst not 
come near him to offer any resistance." So Lane sailed off 
and rejoined the fleet, after which they went to the island of 
Hispaniola (now called Hayti), which was reached on the 
1st of June. Upon news of their arrival at Hispaniola, the 
Spanish Governor sent them a courteous message, promising 
to call and pay his respects. He accordingly came on the 
5th of June, "accompanied by a lusty friar and twenty other 
Spaniards, with their servants and negroes." Thereupon 
Grenville, with his officers and various crews, dressed up in 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 17 

their gayest attire to receive them. The English, both officers 
and men, were feasted sumptuously and provided with all 
manner of costly entertainment during their stay, and left 
with great good will towards the Spaniards, though the 
chronicler of those events stated in his narrative that the 
Englishmen believed that the courtesy of the Spaniards was 
due to fear of Grenville's formidable armament. If the 
Spaniards had been stronger, it was added, the English might 
have received the same treatment which had been accorded 
their countrymen Sir John Hawkins at San Juan d'Ulloa, 
Captain John Oxenham near the Straits of Darien, and divers 
others who had tasted Spanish cruelty. 

After leaving Hispaniola, Grenville's fleet touched at 
numerous small islands on its voyage northward, and finally 
came to the coast of what is now North Carolina but which 
these explorers called Florida. On the 23d of June, it was 
stated that they "were in great danger of a wreck on a breach 
called the Cape of Fear." ' On the 26th, Ocracoke Inlet (then 
called Wococon) was reached, and two days later the Tiger 
was run aground and sunk through the treachery (not then 
discovered) of Simon Eerdinando, by whom she was piloted. 
The settlers sent word of their arrival to King Wingina at 
Eoanoke Island on July 3d, and three days later Manteo, who 
had returned to America with the voyagers, was sent ashore. 
Fearing to go further through the inland waters in the 
large ships, many of the officers and crew set off, on July 
11th, in well armed and fully provisioned pinnaces and other 
small boats to explore the mainland. On the 16th of July 
occurred the first act of English hostility towards the In- 
dians—the beginning of countless bloody onslaughts and sav- 
age reprisals which were to follow throughout the succeeding 
centuries and extend down to a time within the memory of 
men still living. An Indian had stolen a silver cup belonging 
to one of the Englishmen. A party was sent to demand its 



18 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

return. This demand not being complied with, the village 
and grain crops of the Indians were burned (the savages 
themselves having fled), and the attacking party returned to 
the fleet, on the 18th, at Wococon or Ocracoke Inlet. 

At the end of July the English received a call from their 
old friend Granganimeo, who visited the fleet in company 
with Manteo. Granganimeo was shown through the ships 
of the fleet, and kindly entertained during his stay. 

On August 5, 1585, Captain John Arundell, having been 
ordered to return to England, did so. The remainder of the 
fleet, under Sir Kichard Grenville, set sail on August 25th, 
leaving a garrison or colony of one hundred and seven men 
on Roanoke Island.* The English Governor or "General" 
of the colony was Ralph Lane, heretofore mentioned. These 
colonists under Lane remained on the island nearly a year. 
Of Laue personally, the historian Hawks observes : "He had 
the rough courage of a soldier of his day, he endured hard- 
ships with his men, he had judgment to see that Roanoke 
Island was not a proper site for the colony, and to devise a 
plan by which two parties, one on the land and the other on 
the water, should attempt to meet and find on the Chesapeake 
Bay a better locality, of which he had heard from an Indian 
prince, his prisoner. He had wit and prudence enough to 
secure the fidelity of that prisoner by keeping his only son 
as a hostage; he pursued the wise policy of attaching that 
son to him by great personal kindness. * * * The per- 
sonal attachment he had created in his young hostage was the 
means of discovering a widespread plot for the destruction 
of the colony by the natives." The young hostage, just men- 
tioned, was Skiko, son of Monatonon, King of the Chawa- 
nooks or Chowan Indians. When Skiko was first captured, 
he attempted to escape, and Lane threatened to have his head 
cut off, thereby frightening him into better discipline. He 

*For list of colonists under Lane, see Hakluyt (1810 edition), Vol. Ill, pp. 310-311. 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 19 

later treated him with marked kindness, in consequence of 
which he remained a friend of the English throughout the 
remainder of their stay. 

Lane's only sources of information concerning the interior 
of the country, except that in his immediate neighborhood, 
were the statements made to him by the Indians, and hence 
his accounts are not always accurate. Like the ancient He- 
rodotus (who recorded the wonderful tales told him by all 
travelers and thereby gained an unenviable reputation for 
mendacity) Lane was often misled, but narratives of what 
came under his personal observation are trustworthy. One 
laughable inaccuracy in the geographical knowledge of the 
early settlers (probably based on Indian authority) was the 
belief that a near-by river flowed out of the Gulf of Mexico or 
some bay in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean! Another ac- 
count said that this river gushed out of a huge rock at its 
source, and this rock was so close to a great western sea that 
in storms "the waves thereof are beaten into the said fresh 
stream, so that the fresh water, for a certain space, groweth 
salt and brackish." 

During the stay of Lane's colony at Roanoke, Granganimeo 
died, and thereby the English lost a trusty friend. Upon his 
death, for some reason not given, his brother, King Wingina, 
changed his name to Pemisapan. Thereafter he entered into 
numerous confederacies with other tribes for the destruction 
of the whites, but these conspiracies were thwarted by the 
vigilance, courage, and sagacity of Lane, aided by timely 
warnings from Manteo, young Skiko, and other friendly In- 
dians. Old Ensenore, father of King Wingina alias Pemisa- 
pan, was also friendly to the colonists, but he died on the 20th 
of April 1586. Wanchese, who had gone to England in 
company with the friendly Manteo, became a lifelong enemy 
of the English, for some cause which does not now appear to 
be recorded. 



20 SIB WALTER RALEIGH. 

Soon after the death of the King's father, the Indians 
(having no one to restrain their unfriendly designs) entered 
into a gigantic conspiracy for the purpose of exterminating 
the whites. The plan was to go secretly by night and set fire 
to the houses occupied by Lane, Hariot, and other chief men 
of the colony; and, when they rushed from the flames, un- 
dressed and unarmed, to shoot them down, afterwards 
slaughtering and dispersing their followers. The secret of 
this conspiracy was communicated to Lane by young Skiko. 
The evil genius at the head of the proposed uprising was 
King Pemisapan, formerly known as Wingina, and Lane 
promptly determined to strike the first blow, and once for all 
rid his colonists of their inveterate enemy. He sent word 
to the savage king that he wished to meet him. The chief 
accordingly came to a place specified, with a large following 
of armed tribesmen. At a given signal the king was shot 
down with a pistol, and a general battle ensued. In the 
course of the melee, which proved a defeat for the savages, 
their leader (who was supposed to be dead from the pistol 
wound) suddenly sprang up and took to his heels. As he 
ran, an Irish boy who held Lane's petronel (a hand-gun or 
large pistol) wounded him again, but he disappeared into the 
forest, pursued by an Irishman named Edward Nugent. Lane 
and some of his men soon followed, and met Nugent coming 
out of the wilderness with the King's head in his hand. Thus 
were the settlers freed from their bitterest and most formid- 
able enemy, and for some time thereafter they were little 
troubled by unfriendly savages. 

During their entire stay on the island of Eoanoke and in 
its vicinity, the colonists were industriously engaged. They 
shot game, caught fish, and planted corn in proper season, all 
the while keeping armed watch against the approach of un- 
friendly Indians. Nor were their old enemies the Spaniards 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 



21 



out of mind, as they had no assurance that these would not 
pay them an unfriendly visit by water. 

In the Roanoke company of colonists was a courageous 
captain, Edward Stafford by name, of whom Lane says: "I 
must truly report of him, from the first to the last, he was 
the gentleman that never spared labor or peril, either by land 
or water, fair weather or foul, to perform any service com- 
mitted unto him." This officer was sent with a well-manned 
boat to the vicinity of an inlet, with instructions to be on the 
watch for any ships which might be sent from England. On 
June 1, 1586, Stafford sent a messenger to Lane with the 
information that he had sighted a great fleet of twenty-three 
sail ; but, as he could not make out whether they were friends 
or foes, all should be on their guard. Great was the joy of 
the colonists when the commander of this formidable fleet 
turned out to be the renowned Admiral Sir Francis Drake, 
circumnavigator of the world, whose daring warfare against 
the Spaniards had been the wonder of all Europe, and who 
was to gain a fame still greater two years thereafter by his 
share in destroying the "Invincible Armada" of King Philip. 
Like a true patriot, Drake placed the resources of his well 
manned and thoroughly equipped fleet at the disposal of the 
colonists on Roanoke Island. A bark, pinnaces, canoes, muni- 
tions of war, food, clothing, and all else needful, were offered 
them, with a sufficient complement of seamen to man such 
craft as should be left for their use. In accepting this gener- 
ous proffer, Lane requested Drake to receive on his fleet and 
take to England all men whose health had suffered during 
their stay in America, and to replace them with capable sea- 
men and skilled artisans. The admiral was also requested 
to leave a ship to convey the colonists back to England two 
months thereafter, in August, if a promised relief expedition 
under Grenville's command should not be sent to them by 
their patron Sir Walter Raleigh. With the advice of his 



22 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

captains, Drake decided to leave the Francis, a brig of seventy 
tons, and to put provisions on board in sufficient quantities 
to supply a hundred men for four months. Two pinnaces and 
four smaller boats were also to be left, with Captains Abra- 
ham Kendall and Griffith Heme to direct navigation. While 
these preparations were in progress a great storm arose and 
continued for some days. All vessels in the fleet, including 
the Francis, were driven out to sea many miles; but Drake 
returned with a much larger bark, the Bonner, of one hun- 
dred and seventy tons, and tendered her to Lane in place of 
the Francis, with like conditions and equipment. Wishing 
to have the advice of his officers in the determination of a 
matter so important, Lane called a council and it was the 
opinion of all that "the very hand of God seemed stretched 
out to take them from hence," for the relief expedition 
under Sir Eichard Grenville had been promised them 
before Easter, and that season was long passed. England, 
it was believed by those at Roanoke, had so much to occupy 
her armies and fleets against traitors at home and enemies 
abroad, that the needed help could not be sent across the 
water, so all the colonists decided to return at once in the 
English fleet. Drake thereupon sent up pinnaces to bring 
off their belongings, among which were valuable maps and 
charts of the country. These latter, unfortunately, were 
washed overboard and lost while the men were endeavoring 
to place them aboard ship. The colonists themselves, how- 
ever, got safely on board, and Drake "in the name of the 
Almighty, weighed his anchors" on the 19th of June, 1586, 
arriving in the English harbor of Plymouth on the 27th of 
July. 

Though delayed by many vexatious circumstances beyond 
his control Sir Walter Raleigh had not been unmindful of 
the welfare of the colonists left at Roanoke, and sent (but 
too late) a well-provisioned ship for their relief. This ves- 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 23 

sel arrived not long after Lane and his men had departed 
in Drake's fleet. Finding the former settlement abandoned, 
the relief ship returned to England, but not in time to com- 
municate the discouraging news to another expedition of three 
ships sailing by Raleigh's orders under the command of Sir 
Richard Grenville. Finding none of his countrymen at 
Roanoke, but unwilling to abandon England's claim to the 
land, Grenville left fifteen of his men to hold possession 
of the island, and returned to England with his ships. 

In the next year, 1587, Raleigh perfected plans for another 
attempt at colonizing Roanoke, and wisely came to a realiza- 
tion of the fact that no colony could be made permanent with- 
out the presence of women. He therefore issued a charter or 
commission constituting John White as Governor, with twelve 
councilors, under the corporate name of a The Governor and 
Assistants of the city of Raleigh in Virginia." Ninety-one 
men, seventeen women, and nine boys made up the company. 
Two more, Virginia Dare and another baby named Harvie, 
were born after the arrival in America, making one hundred 
and twenty-one white persons in all.* In this expedition 
was the faithful Manteo, who had again visited England, and 
now returned to his native wilds with the whites. With him 
was another friendly Indian, named Towaye. 

The three ships bearing the colonists of 1587, sailed out 
of Portsmouth, England, on the 26th of April, and arrived 
at Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, the same date, tarrying in 
the latter place for eight days. Leaving Cowes, they reached 
Plymouth on the 5th of May ; and, on the 8th of the same 
month, began their westward journey. On the 16th of May, 
Simon Ferdinando, the pilot, to whose former base conduct 
I have already alluded, abandoned the fly-boat in the Bay of 
Portugal, rejoined the fleet, and remained to practice more 
treachery later on. The captain (Edward Spicer) and the 



*For list of colonists under White, see Hakluyt (1810 edition;, Vol. Ill, p. 348. 



24 SIR WALTER EALEIGH. 

daring crew of this fly-boat were not so helpless as the pilot 
supposed they would be. They immediately set sail in their 
little craft and safely crossed the Atlantic, rejoining their 
comrades at Roanoke. 

Sailing as before stated, the fleet with the colonists under 
Governor White passed through the West Indies, stopping at 
various islands there for drinking water, salt, game, and other 
supplies, and started northward from Hispaniola about the 
6th of July, arriving ten days later at Cape Fear, where the 
traitor Ferdinando came near causing another wreck, his 
design being thwarted by the vigilance of Captain Edward 
Stafford, of whose courage and good conduct in the previous 
expedition under Lane, I have already spoken. On July 
22d, Hatorask (Hatteras) Inlet was reached, and there the 
large ships anchored. Governor White manned a pinnance 
with forty of his best men and started for Roanoke Island, 
where he hoped to find the fifteen men left by Grenville in 
1586, the preceding year. None of these fifteen could be 
found, but the bones of one (who had been murdered by the 
savages) were discovered. It later was learned that all had 
been treacherously slain, except some who escaped in a small 
boat and were probably lost. 

The day after his arrival at Roanoke, Governor White and 
a strong body of his men walked to the north end of the 
island, where the "city of Raleigh" had stood. They found 
the fort destroyed, but many of the small dwelling houses 
were in fair condition, and the party immediately set to work 
repairing these huts. On the 28th of July, George Howe, 
one of the colonists, was shot and killed by some Indians 
who were the remnants of Wingina's tribe, with whom was 
Wanchese. On the 30th of the same month, Captain Staf- 
ford took a party, with Manteo as guide and interpreter, and 
met the Indians on August 1st, offering to make peace with 
them, forgetting all past differences. The savages promised 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 25 

that their chiefs would come in for a conference on this sub- 
ject and give their answer in the course of the next seven 
days. Nothing being heard in that time, Governor White 
and Captain Stafford headed a party of colonists which at- 
tacked an Indian encampment and wounded one or more 
before it was discovered that they had fired upon a friendly 
tribe from Croatan. The account of this transaction says: 
"Although the mistaking of these savages somewhat grieved 
Manteo, yet he imputed their harm to their own folly, saying 
to them that if their weroances [chiefs] had kept their prom- 
ise in coming to the Governor at the day appointed, they 
had not known that mischance." 

Both in America and England instructions in the principles 
of the Christian religion had been imparted to Manteo, the 
never-failing friend of the whites; and, before the colonists 
left England, Sir Walter Raleigh had expressly commanded 
that this Indian should be baptized as soon as practicable 
after arrival in his old home on Roanoke. It was probably 
decided that this ceremony should take place in America in 
order that the example might have the effect of causing other 
Indians to embrace Christianity. Manteo was accordingly 
baptized on Roanoke Island on the 13th of August, at the 
same time being (by Raleigh's orders) created Lord of Roan- 
oke and of Dasamonguepeuk, as a reward for his faithful 
service. This was the first administration of the sacrament 
of baptism, according to the rites of the Church of England 
which ever took place within the limits of the present United 
States. Five days later, on the 18th, a daughter was born 
to Ananias and Eleanor Dare, this little girl's mother being 
a daughter of Governor White. As she was the first child 
born in the new country, she was called Virginia, by which 
name she was baptized on the first Sunday after her birth. 

During the latter half of August it was determined to send 
back to England for further supplies, but great difficulty was 



26 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

experienced in securing the services of any officer to under- 
take the mission. All the colonists finally united in a re- 
quest that Governor White himself should go. This request 
was at first refused, White saying that his return would be 
looked upon by the public in England as a desertion of those 
whom he had persuaded to undertake the voyage to America, 
and would consequently bring great discredit upon his name. 
He also had misgivings about his personal belongings, which 
he feared might be lost when the colonists moved further in- 
land, as it was their intention to do later on. The colonists 
then grew even more importunate, and White finally con- 
sented, with much reluctance, after being given a signed cer- 
tificate wherewith to justify his course in departing from 
the colony which he had been sent to govern. He accordingly 
set sail with one ship and a fly-boat on the 27th of August, 
1587. At the outset of this return voyage, quite a number 
of the fly-boat's crew were disabled by the breaking of a 
capstan. Later the two crafts separated, as the larger one 
(with the marplot Ferdinando on board) wished to trade at 
the island of Tercera. White would not delay, but proceeded 
in the fly-boat. All on board came near perishing for lack 
of drinking water, and the boat lost its course in consequence 
of foul weather. Finally those on the boat sighted a port, 
which turned out to be the Irish town of Smerwirk (the 
scene of Raleigh's bloody work in 1580), and there the crew 
gained much needed help. From Smerwick the boat pro- 
ceeded to Dingen, five miles distant. There the boatswain, 
the boatswain's mate, and the steward died on board, and 
the master's mate and two other sick sailors were taken 
ashore. On November 1st, Governor White took shipping 
for England on another boat, and arrived in due time at a 
port in Cornwall. 

In April, 1588, Governor White made a futile attempt 
to return with supplies for the relief of Raleigh's colonists 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 27 

who had been left on Roanoke Island. The failure of this 
attempt was due to the fact that the English went out of their 
way in an attempt to secure Spanish prizes, were beaten in 
a sea-fight which ensued, and finally were forced to return 
for repairs. A few weeks later the great Spanish Armada 
came. Then all the ships and seamen in England were 
needed for purposes of national defense. Two more years 
elapsed before White had another opportunity to return to 
America, even then going as a passenger on a ship whose 
first object was trading with or fighting against Spaniards in 
the West Indies, after which it was to sail northward and see 
if any of the colonists could be found on or around Roanoke 
Island. The narrative of his experiences on shipboard, 
during this voyage, White communicated to Richard Hak- 
luyt, dating his letter of transmittal at "my house at Newtown 
in Kilmore, the 4th of February, 1593," which was several 
years after his return. The small fleet of three ships, in 
which he took passage, sailed out of Plymouth on the 20th 
of March, 1590. They cruised in the vicinity of Spain and 
on the north coast of Africa for a few weeks and then set 
sail for the West Indies. On May 7th, fresh water was se- 
cured on the island of St. John, in the West Indies, and a 
large Spanish prize was taken on the next day. Then fol- 
lowed numerous sea-fights, and pillaging by land, in the terri- 
tory of the Spaniards. On July 2d, White's old friend Cap- 
tain Edward Spicer, joined the fleet at Cape Tyburon, after 
a long voyage from England. We also find mention of Cap- 
tain Lane, who was probably Ralph Lane, former Governor 
of Roanoke. On the 13th of July the coast of Florida came 
into view, and on August 3d the fleet sighted what is now 
the coast of North Carolina, but was forced out to sea in a 
storm, to avoid ship-wreck on the banks. Later the inland 
waters were entered, and, on the 15th. Roanoke Island was 
in close view. From this island was seen to arise a column 



28 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

of smoke, which raised hopes that the colonists were still in 
the vicinity of the locality where they had been left. A dili- 
gent search for them proved fruitless. On the 16th of August, 
White went ashore, accompanied by Captains Spicer and 
Cooke, with a sufficient armed escort. Orders were left with 
the master-gunner on shipboard to have shots fired, at stated 
intervals, from two minions and a falcon (small pieces of 
ordnance) to attract the attention of any English who might 
be in the neighborhood; but reverberating echoes were the 
only answer. On going ashore in the direction of another 
column of smoke, the fire was located, but no human being — 
white man or Indian — was found near it. The party, being 
much fatigued, camped on the island for the night, but later 
returned to the ships. 

On the 17th of August, the greatest catastrophe of the 
voyage occurred when a boat containing eleven men capsized 
in trying to enter an inlet, and seven were drowned. Those 
lost were the gallant Captain Spicer, to whose daring at sea 
I have alluded more than once, also Master's-Mate Ralph 
Skinner, Surgeon Hance, Edward Kelley, Thomas Bevis, Ed- 
ward Kelborne, and Robert Coleman. The remaining four 
were saved by the heroic efforts of Captain Cooke and four 
stout seamen who rowed to their rescue. The sailors were 
much disheartened by this deplorable accident, but Governor 
White and Captain Cooke prevailed on them to proceed with 
an exploration of the vicinity which they wished to make. 
Before Roanoke Island was again reached, dark had settled, 
and another great fire was seen in the woods. White's nar- 
rative of the voyage says : "When we came right over against 
it, we let fall our grapnel near the shore and sounded with 
a trumpet a call, and afterwards many English tunes of 
songs, and called to them friendly, but we had no answer. 
We therefore landed at daybreak; and, coming to the fire, 
we found the grass and sundry rotten trees burning about 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 29 

the place." White and his companions went through the 
woods for a considerable distance, and then sailed around 
the island until they reached the point where the colony had 
been left in 1587. Upon the departure of White for Eng- 
land in 1587, it had been agreed that if the colonists re- 
moved, they should cut on trees and posts the name of the 
locality to which they had gone, and a cross should be cut 
over the name if they were distressed. Upon one tree were 
found the letters C K O, and C B, O A T O A N was cut on an- 
other, but both were without the sign of distress agreed upon. 
Of the further investigation White says: "We entered into 
the palisado, where we found many bars of iron, two pigs 
of lead, four iron fowlers, iron sacker shot, and such like 
heavy things, thrown here and there, almost overgrown with 
grass and weeds. From thence we went along the waterside 
toward the point of the creek, to see if we could find any of 
their boats or pinnace, but we could perceive no sign 
of them, nor any of the falcons or small ordnance which were 
left with them at my departure from them. At our return 
from the creek, some of our sailors, meeting us, told us they 
had found where divers chests had been hidden, and long 
since digged up again and broken up, and much of the goods 
in them spoiled and scattered about, but nothing left, of such 
things as the savages knew any use of, undefaced. Presently 
Captain Cooke and I went to the place, which was in the end 
of an old trench, made two [sic~\ years past by Captain 
Amadas, where we found five chests that had been carefully 
hidden of the planters, and of the same chests three were my 
own, and about the place many of my things spoiled and 
broken, and my books torn from the covers, the frames of 
some of my pictures and maps rotten and spoiled with rain, 
and my armor almost eaten through with rust. This could 
be no other than the deed of the savages, our enemies at 
Dasamonguepeuk, who had watched the departure of our 



30 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

men to Croatoan, and, as soon as they were departed, digged 
up every place where they suspected anything to be buried. 
But although it much grieved me to see such spoil of my 
goods, yet on the other side I greatly joyed that I had safely 
found a certain token of their safe being at Croatoan, which 
is the place where Manteo was born, and the savages of the 
island our friends." 

Returning from the scene of desolation at the old fort, 
White, Cooke, and the remainder of their party regained 
their ships, and then determined to proceed to Croatan. After 
losing several anchors in a storm and suffering other mishaps, 
however, it was determined to go to the West Indies for re- 
pairs, spend the Winter there, and return in the Spring to 
the vicinity of Roanoke for a further search. The captain 
of one vessel, the Moonlight, objected to this plan, as his ship 
was in bad shape generally and needed supplies, so he forth- 
with sailed for England. The remaining vessels pursued 
their course to the West Indies, took several Spanish prizes, 
and later joined a large fleet of warships under the command 
of Admiral Sir John Hawkins. This admiral was watching 
for a Spanish fleet which was known to be in the West Indies ; 
but, by the counsel of his officers, he later decided that his 
ships should "spread themselves on the coast of Spain and 
Portugal, so far as conveniently they might, for the sure 
meeting of the Spanish fleet in those parts." In this last 
mentioned plan the ship on which White sailed did not join, 
as its captain determined to return to England. Leave was 
accordingly taken of the redoubtable Hawkins on Sunday, 
the 13th of September, and White reached Plymouth, in 
England, on the 24th of October. 

The fate of the colonists left on Roanoke Island in 1587 
is one of the unsolved mysteries of the ages. Some believe 
they were massacred. Others contend that, when all hope 
for help had been abandoned, they became absorbed into the 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 31 

tribe of Croatan Indians, whose friendship for the whites 
had been so often manifested. Mr. Hamilton McMillan and 
Dr. Stephen B. Weeks have written monographs in support 
of this contention, while Bishop Cheshire and others have 
vigorously argued the contrary. As a single word, cut on a 
tree, was the only message found, I shall not endeavor to 
discuss the conflicting theories. In the words of Mrs. Mar- 
garet J. Preston, a Virginia poetess: 

"The mystery rests a mystery still, 
Unsolved of mortal man; 
Sphinx-like, untold, the ages hold 
The tale of CRO-A-TAN." 

Some writers have ignorantly charged that Raleigh heart- 
lessly abandoned the Lost Colony of 1587, and made no effort 
to discover and rescue its members. This is far from true. 
One old nautical historian, Samuel Purchas, while referring 
to the year 1602, says that Raleigh then sent Captain Samuel 
Mace, who had been to Virginia twice before, on another 
voyage to hunt for the Lost Colony "to whose succor he had 
sent five several times at his own charges." By the time Mace 
returned from this voyage, Raleigh had been attainted as a 
traitor, his estates had been confiscated, and he could do no 
more. 

As every one knows, Raleigh's explorers brought back with 
them an edible tuber, theretofore unknown to Europeans, 
called the potato. Raleigh experimented with it on his estates 
in Ireland with so much success that it became the chief food- 
stuff of that country and is generally called the Irish Potato 
after the land to which it was transplanted. Thus an im- 
portation by Raleigh, who had often wasted Ireland with 
the fire and sword, has often been the salvation of that country 
when other food crops have failed. Tobacco, too, was brought 
from the New World, and Raleigh was joined by his friends 
in acquiring its use by puffing it from small silver bowls. 



32 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

We have all heard the story of how Sir Walter's first smoke 
was interrupted by an alarmed servant who dashed a cup of 
spiced ale in his face to extinguish the fire. 

Art and archeology in our day are also debtors to the 
Roanoke colonists, for Governor White was a talented artist, 
who not only made maps of the new land but also water- 
color drawings of the natives. His paintings of the Indians 
are still preserved in the British Museum. At the time of 
the Jamestown Exposition, in 1907, Colonel Bennehan 
Cameron, of this State, employed a competent artist to make 
copies of these paintings for the use of the North Carolina 
Historical Exhibit; and, after the close of the Exposition, 
he presented them to the North Carolina Hall of History 
in the city of Baleigh, where they may still be seen. 

And now, as Raleigh bade farewell to his cherished hopes 
of colonization on this spot, we must say farewell to the sad 
story of its failure. The prosecution of these noble but un- 
successful designs cost an immense sum, and not a few lives. 
I have already told how seven men were drowned by the cap- 
sizing of a pinnace ; and others, who are known to have sought 
safety in small boats amid the horrors of Indian warfare, 
were doubtless lost at sea. These sad circumstances lend a 
touch of reality to the beautiful poem Hatteras, by the late 
Joseph W. Holden, of Raleigh, wherein a skull cast up on 
Cape Hatteras is supposed to voice its tale of the past and 
warning to the present in these lines : 

"When life was young, adventure sweet, 
I came with Walter Raleigh's fleet, 
But here my scattered bones have lain 
And bleached for ages by the main! 
Though lonely once, strange folks have come, 
Till peopled is my barren home; 
Enough are here: oh, heed the cry, 
Ye white-winged strangers sailing by! 
The bark that lingers on this wave 
Will find its smiling but a grave!" 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 33 

It was in 1588 that all true Englishmen flew to arms at 
news of the coming of the great fleet which the Spaniards 
in their pride called the "Invincible Armada." On sea and 
land every available man was mustered into the service of 
the realm which was so much imperiled. The lion-hearted 
Queen herself, though no longer young, laid aside womanly 
apparel and rode through the great camp at Tilbury in a 
full suit of armor, encouraging her people in a speech filled 
with expressions of confidence in their fidelity and valor. 
In the course of her address she said : "We have been per- 
suaded by some, that are careful of our safety, to take heed 
how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of 
treachery ; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust 
my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear; I have 
always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my 
chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good 
will of my subjects, and therefore I am come among you, 
as you see at this time, hot for my recreation and disport, 
but being resolved, in the midst and heat of battle, to live 
or die amongst you all." 

In the defense of England against the Spanish Armada 
it is needless to say that Raleigh played the part of a loyal 
subject and true man. When a council of nine was formed 
to consider the state of national fortifications and defenses, 
Raleigh sat in that body, being styled "Lieutenant-General 
of Cornwall." The only member of this council below the 
rank of knighthood was Ralph Lane, former Governor of 
Roanoke, and he was later knighted in recognition of his 
many services to the kingdom at home and abroad. In both 
England and Ireland, Raleigh was active in disciplining the 
levies raised to defend the realm against the Armada ; and, 
when it became apparent that no fighting was soon to be done 
on land, he relinquished his army commands and betook 
3 



34 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

himself to the channel, there aiding materially, as captain 
of a ship, in the destruction of the Spanish war vessels. 

In March, 1589, after having spent more than forty thou- 
sand pounds in his attempt to plant colonies in "Virginia," 
with no financial returns for the outlay, Kaleigh, as Chief 
Governor, sold his rights to trade (though not his patent) in 
that locality to a corporation or company composed of Thomas 
Smith, John White, Richard Hakluyt, and others. 

In 1589, as a retaliation for the Armada, the English 
fitted up a fleet for the purpose of restoring Don Antonio 
to the throne of Portugal, and thereby weakening Spanish 
influence in that kingdom. Six warships and one hundred 
and twenty volunteer vessels, under Sir Francis Drake and 
Sir John Norris, went on this expedition. With them sailed 
Raleigh in a ship of his own. The English burned Vigo, 
destroyed two hundred vessels in the Tagus River (many 
of them containing stores for a new invasion of England), 
and attacked Lisbon. Aside from the capture of valuable 
spoils little else was accomplished. 

In 1592, Philip of Spain was believed to be fostering fur- 
ther hostile designs upon England, and Elizabeth decided 
to divert his attack by sending a fleet against the Spanish 
possessions in Panama. Raleigh was placed in command 
of the English fleet. On May 6th, he set sail, but on the 
next day he was overtaken in a swift-sailing boat by Sir 
Martin Erobisher, with the Queen's peremptory order to re- 
turn to England and to leave his fleet under the joint com- 
mand of Frobisher and Sir John Burgh. Raleigh remained 
with the fleet long enough to give particular directions to 
his two successors in command and then sailed back to Eng- 
land, much puzzled to know the reason of his recall. He 
was not left long in doubt. Court gossip, connecting his 
name with that of a maid of honor, Elizabeth Throckmorton, 
had come to the ears of the Queen and she promptly sent the 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 35 

accused courtier to the Tower of London. A letter written 
at the time says of Kaleigh and Miss Throckmorton : "It is 
affirmed that they are married, but the Queen is most furi- 
ously incensed." The exact date when Raleigh's marriage 
to Miss Throckmorton took place does not appear, but the 
Queen later needed his services and ordered his release, 
though it took him a long time to regain the favor of his 
royal mistress. As for his wife, she became his heroic and 
devoted friend and companion throughout the remainder of 
his life, in adversity and prosperity alike, never ceasing her 
labors in his behalf until his head rolled from the block in 
1618. She was a daughter of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, 
then deceased, a former councilor at the court of Elizabeth. 
Lady Raleigh is described as tall, slender, blue-eyed, and 
golden-haired. 

As England was not an absolute monarchy even in the 
days of Elizabeth, and as Raleigh had been committed to the 
Tower without due process of law, he might possibly have 
secured an earlier release through legal means, but chose a 
more unique method, by writing a letter to Robert Cecil, 
trusting that it would come to the eye of the Queen. As the 
Queen was going away from the vicinity of the Tower for a 
short season, her imprisoned courtier sent forth a lamentation 
in these words: "My heart was never broken till this day 
that I hear the Queen goes away so far off — whom I have 
followed so many years with so great love and desire, in so 
many journeys, and am now left behind her in a dark prison 
all alone. While she was yet nigher at hand, that I might 
hear of her once in two or three days, my sorrows were the 
less; but even now my heart is cast into the depth of all 
misery. I that was wont to behold her riding like Alexander, 
hunting like Diana, walking like Venus, the gentle wind 
blowing her fair hair about her pure cheeks like a nymph; 
sometimes sitting in the shade like a Goddess; sometimes 



36 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

singing like an angel ; sometimes playing like Orpheus. Be- 
hold the sorrow of this world! Once amiss hath bereaved 
me of all! Oh Glory, that shineth in misfortune, what is 
become of thy assurance ? * * * She is gone in whom 
I trusted, and of me hath not one thought of mercy." When 
we reflect that the Queen, at the time this letter was written, 
was in her sixtieth year, gray-haired, wrinkled, and ugly as 
the proverbial home-made sin, we are almost tempted to doubt 
Sir Walter's sincerity in painting her as a beautiful fairy 
princess with all the entrancing attributes of heavenly angels, 
heathen deities, and earthly heroes. Raleigh's imprisonment 
in the Tower was not rigorous. He was in the custody of 
his cousin, Sir George Carew, Master of Ordnance in that 
strong-hold, and the Queen had given orders that his friends 
should have free access to him, while servants attended his 
every want. Even his offices were not taken away from him, 
and he discharged his duties by deputies. On one occasion 
when it came to his ear that the Queen would soon pass down 
the Thames in her barge, he asked Carew to let him be dis- 
guised as a boatman and go near the barge under guard, that 
he might feast his eyes on the royal object of his adoration 
once more. The request was of course refused, whereupon 
Raleigh became frantic and attacked his keeper in seeming 
desperation, though no further harm was done than the in- 
jury of his Cousin George's new periwig. 

There is a homely old saying that "fair words butter no 
parsnips," and Raleigh soon discovered that they were equally 
powerless to unlock the gates of the Tower of London. But 
his release came in September. In that month Frobisher 
and Burgh returned to Plymouth with the fleet of which he 
was still the titular "General" or Admiral, and with them 
brought many valuable spoils taken from the Spaniards, so 
the services of Raleigh were needed in making partition be- 
tween the Queen and those who financed the voyage. Among 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 37 

the latter was Admiral Sir John Hawkins, who had 
urged that Raleigh should be sent. He accordingly went 
to Plymouth under guard. Though one of Raleigh's con- 
temporaries had described him as "the best hated man 
of the world in court, city, and country/' his reception at 
Plymouth did not seem to indicate it. Referring to his ar- 
rival there, Robert Cecil wrote: "I assure you, sir, his 
poor servants, to the number of one hundred and forty goodly 
men, and all the mariners, came to him with shouts of joy. 
I never saw a man more troubled to quiet them. But. his 
heart is broken, as he is extremely pensive, unless he is 
busied, in which he can toil terribly. The meeting between 
him and Sir John Gilbert was with tears on Sir John's part. 
But he, finding it known that he has a keeper, whenever he 
is saluted with congratulations for liberty, doth answer, 'No, 
I am still the Queen of England's poor captive.' I wished 
him to conceal it, because here it doth diminish his credit, 
which I do vow to you before God is greater among the mari- 
ners than I thought for." Finally the Queen's anger sim- 
mered down, and Raleigh was relieved from his nominal 
captivity. 

In 1594 Raleigh secured a charter from Queen Elizabeth 
for his first expedition to Guiana, on the northern coast of 
South America. As a preliminary he sent one of his most 
experienced officers, Captain Jacob Whiddon to spy out the 
route and report his findings. Upon Whiddon's return, Ra- 
leigh's expedition sailed in 1595. With him were his nephew, 
John Gilbert, son of Sir Humphrey, and Captain Laurence 
Keymis, On the voyage to South America the forces of Ra- 
leigh captured and burned the town of St. Joseph on the 
island of Trinidad. On the continent of South America the 
explorers penetrated far inland, up the Orinoco River, 
and enjoyed most friendly relations with the natives, who 
had suffered much from Spanish cruelty and were conse- 



38 SIK WALTER RALEIGH. 

quently willing to render all aid and assistance to the Eng- 
lish upon learning that they were enemies of Spain. Much 
time was spent in explorations by Raleigh before he left the 
continent. It was his hope to sail northward for the purpose 
of making a personal attempt to find and relieve his settlers 
here on Roanoke, but he was prevented by storms and other 
circumstances. While in South America he collected much 
ore, as samples, though he did not engage in mining on a 
large scale. On his return voyage the Spanish towns of 
Cumana, Santa Maria, and Rio de la Hacha refused to 
furnish his fleet with supplies, and were sacked and burned 
in consequence. Before Raleigh left England his enemies 
had prophesied that he would never return, but would enter 
the service of Spain. This absurd charge was disproved by 
his return, and then those same enemies sought to discredit 
his account of discoveries, especially of precious ores. Some 
modern historians — Hume and others — have branded Ra- 
leigh's narrative as a collection of lies, but recent discoveries 
of rich gold fields in Venezuela (a part of Raleigh's Guiana) 
have partly or wholly justified his statements. In 1596, in 
fulfillment of a promise to the Indians to return to Guiana, 
Raleigh sent Captain Keymis with the ships Darling and 
Discovery, laden with presents for the Indians. In the mean- 
time San Thome, in Guiana, had been heavily fortified by the 
Spaniards, so Keymis avoided that town and went towards 
the mines by another route. Later he returned to England, 
bringing with him little more than samples of gold ore. Thus 
ended Raleigh's earlier expeditions to Guiana — ventures to 
be resumed near his life's end, as I shall relate hereafter. 

When rumors of the coming of the Spanish Armada of 
1588 first reached England, Raleigh had boldly volunteered 
for an expedition to sail into the Spanish harbors and burn 
the ships of King Philip while they were being fitted up. 
This advice was rejected as the dream of a desperate vision- 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 39 

ary. Eight years later, however, in 1596, when news came 
that the indefatigable Philip was building another fleet (sixty 
ships) for an invasion of Ireland, where he hoped for many 
allies, Raleigh again urged Elizabeth to strike the first blow, 
and this time his advice was followed. The result was a 
brilliant success. With the English fleet of ninety-six sail, 
went twenty-four Dutch ships, making one hundred and 
twenty vessels in all. On these ships were fourteen thousand 
English and twenty-six hundred Dutch troops. Lord Ad- 
miral Howard and the Earl of Essex were in joint command. 
This fleet divided itself into four squadrons, one of which 
was commanded by Raleigh, under whom were thirteen hun- 
dred and fifty-two sailors and eighteen hundred and seventy- 
five soldiers. The fleet sailed out of Plymouth on June 1; 
1596, and, on the 20th of the same month anchored within 
half a league of Cadiz. In the attack on that city the fol- 
lowing day, Raleigh led the van in a vessel called the War- 
spright, with a crew of two hundred and ninety men. As 
the Warspright advanced, followed by five other English 
ships, four huge galleons appeared, bearing the usual saintly 
names of those Children of the Devil," the Spaniards. They 
were the St. Philip, the St. Matthew, the St. Andrew, and 
the St. Thomas— "those Apostles aforesaid," as Raleigh after- 
wards called them. All of these galleons moored under the 
guns of Fort Puntal, with three galleys about each; and 
then the batteries on sea and land opened a furious can- 
nonading on the invaders. The largest Spanish ships were 
the St. Philip and the St. Andrew, which had been with the 
fleet of fifty-three which sank the ship Revenge and killed its 
commander Sir Richard Grenville, Raleigh's kinsman. Ra- 
leigh now vowed that he would be "revenged for the Revenge 
or second her with his own life." This was no idle boast. 
Though the Warspright was nearly sunk, the ships of the 
other English commanders came rushing to her assistance, 



40 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

and two got the start of her, but Raleigh was unwilling to 
relinquish his perilous post of honor, so he again succeeded 
in running ahead and blocked further advance by laying his 
ship athwart the channel in order, as he said, that "none 
other should outstart him that day." He and his crew next 
grappled the St. Philip, and were soon reinforced by the other 
English vessels, when a wild panic seized the Spaniards, who 
ran their galleons aground and attempted to burn them, but 
the English were too quick for this and captured all but the 
St. Philip and the St. Thomas which were blown up by their 
captains. The English spared the lives of their captives, 
but the Dutch partly paid off their score for Alva's cruelties 
by mercilessly butchering prisoners until the forces of the 
Lord Admiral and Ealeigh beat them off. These Flemings, 
Raleigh declared, contributed little or nothing to the winning 
of the victory. Toward the close of the sea-fight, Raleigh 
was badly wounded in the leg, but had himself borne ashore 
on the shoulders of his men when the land forces disembarked. 
After landing, the troops, under the chief command of Essex, 
first swept eight hundred Spanish horsemen from their path, 
and then captured all the fortifications of the city except the 
castle; and that, too, surrendered on the next day. Spoils 
of the town and ransoms for wealthy prisoners were the re- 
wards of the victors. Said Raleigh: "We stayed not to 
pick any lock, but brake open the doors; and, having rifled 
all, threw the key into the fire." The "key" here alluded 
to was the city of Cadiz, which had been described as 
one of the three keys of the kingdom of Spain. Other locali- 
ties around Cadiz were also sacked and burned, and the vic- 
torious expedition finally returned to England, Raleigh ar- 
riving there ahead of the rest on August 6th. 

Raleigh's splendid services at Cadiz restored him in a 
large measure to the good graces of Queen Elizabeth, and 



SIB WALTER RALEIGH. 41 

he once more became an inmate of her Court, where there 
was a bitter rivalry between himself and Essex. 

So happy were the English over their victories in Spain 
that, in 1597, they organized a campaign against Spanish 
possessions in the West Indies. This expedition by sea is 
known as the "Islands Voyage." Time will not allow me 
to go into its full details. In the course of the cruise, Raleigh 
landed without orders and stormed the strongholds of the 
island of Fayal, thereby kindling anew the jealousy of his 
chief commander, the Earl of Essex, who arrived too late 
to share the honors of the day. Numerous rich ships of the 
Spaniards also fell a prey to the English on this voyage. 

I can not here tell in full the story of the feud between 
Raleigh and Essex, but it was bitter and lasting. Though 
Raleigh was at his post, as Captain of the Guard, when the 
fallen Earl was in later years led to the block, he withdrew 
before the final stroke for fear it should be charged that he 
gloated over the execution. In later years, when it was 
charged that he had a hand in the destruction of his former 
rival, he said : "It is true that I was of an opposite faction, 
but I take God to witness that I had no hand in his death. 
* * * My soul hath many times been grieved that I was 
not nearer to him when he died, as I understood afterwards 
that he asked for me, desiring to be reconciled." 

In 1600, Raleigh was advanced to the important post of 
Governor of the Isle of Jersey, and greatly improved the 
conditions of that locality by his administration of its affairs. 

The great Queen Elizabeth died in the early Spring of 
1603, and gave place to the cowardly descendant of a warlike 
race of Scottish monarchs, King James the First of England 
and Sixth of Scotland. Before the arrival of James in 
London, his mind had been poisoned against Raleigh by the 
latter's enemies, and he was not long in stripping Elizabeth's 
former favorite of all the honors held by him. In a short 



42 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

time Raleigh was deprived of his posts as Captain of the 
Guard and Governor of Jersey, likewise being shorn of the 
monopolies and special privileges conferred by the late Queen. 
He was also ejected from Durham House (an episcopal resi- 
dence) and Sherborne Castle upon which he held long leases. 
If he could now conveniently be proved a traitor, the efforts 
for his destruction would be crowned with complete success. 
Finally that opportunity presented itself when Lord Cobham 
became involved in a conspiracy to seat Lady Arabella Stuart 
on the throne of England. In an effort to save his own life, 
Cobham had accused Raleigh; later the conscience-stricken 
nobleman retracted his charge; afterwards renewed it, with 
more retractions later, and this was the farcical evidence 
upon which Raleigh was convicted. In much bitterness of 
spirit he wrote his wife: "All my services, hazards, and 
expenses for my country — plantings, discoveries, fights, coun- 
cils, and whatever else — malice hath now covered over. I 
am now made an enemy and a traitor by the word of an un- 
worthy man." 

On September 21, 1603, Raleigh was indicted for having 
conspired to deprive the King of his Crown, to alter the true 
religion, and to levy war. The trial was begun in Winchester 
on November 17th, Lord Chief Justice Popham presiding. 
The eminent legal dignitary just named had been, by turns, 
a gambler, a drunkard, and a highwayman, afterwards mend- 
ing his ways to some extent and reading law. With Popham 
sat many other men of note, the King being careful to select 
one or more whom he knew to be bitter enemies of Raleigh. 
Attorney-General Coke, Serjeant Hele, and Serjeant Phillips 
were attorneys for the prosecution. In that day the laws 
of England did not give prisoners the advantage of counsel, 
and hence Raleigh had to plead his own cause, which he did 
with ability, dignity, and decorum. I shall not trouble my 
hearers with an account of this trial. The absurdity of the 



SIE WALTER RALEIGH. 43 

accusation is now admitted by all men, while the underhanded 
displacement of impartial jurymen and the disgraceful con- 
duct of the King's attorneys will ever remain as blots upon 
the justice of the reign in which they occurred. In speaking 
of the behavior of Attorney-General Coke during the trial, 
an eminent Baltimore lawyer, J. Morrison Harris, said in 
an address on Raleigh before the Maryland Historical So- 
ciety in 1846 : "The conduct of Coke, the King's attorney, 
was disgraceful to the position he occupied — to the sovereign 
he represented — to the profession to which he belonged — the 
age in which he lived — and the manhood he shamed. He 
was, throughout the trial, ungenerous and unjust; overbear- 
ing and cruel ; brutal and insolent." Continuing, Mr. Harris 
says: "Venality soiled the ermine of the judge, and power 
controlled the decision of the jury. The former pronounced 
his doom with as much alacrity as he had formerly shewn 
in taking purses on the highway, or bribes upon the bench ; 
and the latter, in their eagerness to perform their part well, 
overdid it; so that the malignant Coke, when he heard that 
they had found him guilty of treason, exclaimed to the mes- 
senger: 'Surely thou art mistaken; / myself only accused 
him of misprision of treason!' " The programme for Raleigh's 
conviction having been duly carried out by the jury, he was 
condemned to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. He peti- 
tioned for a reprieve, writing to Cecil : "Your Lordship will 
find that I have been strangely practiced against, and that 
others have their lives promised to accuse me." 

On December 10, 1603, James granted Raleigh a re- 
prieve and the prisoner was carried from the place of trial 
at Winchester back to London, where he was confined in 
the Tower to await the King's pleasure. 

In his work entitled Her Majesty's Tower, Hepworth 
Dixon says: "The most eminent and interesting prisoner 
ever lodged in the Tower is Raleigh ; eminent by his personal 



44 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

genius, interesting from his political fortune. Raleigh has, 
in higher degree than any other captive who fills the Tower 
with story, the distinction that he was not the prisoner of 
his country hut the prisoner of Spain.' 7 And so he was, 
during the latter part of his captivity. While in the Tower 
he did not spend his time in useless repining, but well ex- 
emplified the truth of the old lines: 

"Stone walls do not a prison make 
Or iron bars a cage; 
A free and quiet mind can take 
These for a hermitage." 

The story of Raleigh's confinement is a long record of noble 
literary and scientific achievements, too numerous to relate. 
The most important of his productions was a History of the 
World, which would have immortalized his name if he had 
no other title to distinction. Some of his poetical produc- 
tions are most charming. 

Though the statement may be strong, I doubt if there has 
ever been a man in the history of the world of whom so many 
biographies have been written as those which treat of Ra- 
leigh's career. Numerous publications of his works have 
also been made, the standard edition being issued in eight 
volumes by the University of Oxford in 1829, the first volume 
in this series giving two separate biographies (written many 
years before), one by William Oldys and the other by Thomas 
Birch, and the last volume containing a collection of his 
poems. 

At times Raleigh's confinement in the Tower was light, 
and at times oppressive beyond reason. Within the confines 
of that gloomy stronghold "Raleigh's Walk" still preserves 
his name. Once, during his imprisonment, to test the effect 
which his death would have upon the public mind, the news 
was spread abroad that he had committed suicide. Later his 
captors tempted him to take that step by placing weapons 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 45 

within his reach and turning his mind to the subject by dis- 
coursing upon that custom of the old Romans when they 
wished to end the ills of life. When conversations took this 
turn, Raleigh "spoke very gravely against self-murder, saying 
that for himself he would die in the light of day and in the 
face of his countrymen." 

In his confinement Raleigh had many unflinching and in- 
fluential friends, among the most devoted being Prince Henry, 
heir apparent to the throne, whose untimely death added to 
the misfortunes of the captive. Prince Henry constantly 
labored for Raleigh's release and visited him frequently in 
the Tower, while the prisoner sought to return the kindness 
by giving his royal visitor the benefit of his long experience 
in state-craft and military operations on land and water. One 
naval treatise he wrote for the especial instruction of Henry. 
Queen Anne was also Raleigh's friend. Among the countless 
throngs who sought his. society while he was a prisoner was 
Thomas Hariot, who had been one of the voyagers to Roanoke 
Island, and to whose pen we of the present day are indebted 
for much of the early history of English colonization on this 
spot. Raleigh readily and generously gave of his means to 
enable Hariot to pursue his studies ; and, when powerless to 
render him further assistance, sought and obtained for him 
congenial employment in the service of the Earl of North- 
umberland, a patron of letters and benefactor of scholars. 

Raleigh was a sailor at heart and took a keen interest 
in the welfare of the mariners of his country. While in the 
Tower he contrived a process, designed for their benefit, 
whereby salt water could be made fresh and used for drink- 
ing purposes. Later he was deprived of his chemical appa- 
ratus, and the secret was thereby lost, not being re-discovered 
until modern times. 

At times Raleigh had his heroic and devoted wife as the 
companion of his confinement, and one of his sons was born 



46 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

in the Tower. Lady Kaleigh exhausted every means in the 
interest of her husband during life, and called down curses 
(later fulfilled) upon those who robbed him and his children 
of Sherborne Castle and other property which his wealth 
had beautified. The Sherborne estate alone had brought an 
income of five thousand pounds annually, and yet in later 
years, by way of restitution, Ealeigh was only given eight 
thousand pounds in satisfaction of the ninety-nine year lease 
which he had held. In speaking of Raleigh's family it may 
be here mentioned that he left two sons: Walter (unmar- 
ried), to whose death in South America I shall later call at- 
tention; and Carew (1605-1666), who was educated at Ox- 
ford, was a Cavalier in the Civil War of the next reign, mem- 
ber of Parliament, cooperator with Monk in the Eestoration, 
and Governor of Jersey, the post formerly held by his father. 
The maiden name of his wife was Philippa Weston, at the 
time of her marriage widow of Sir Anthony Ashley. By this 
marriage Carew Ealeigh had two sons, Walter (a knight, 
who died unmarried) ; and Philip, who married and left four 
sons and three daughters. Through them Sir Walter Raleigh 
doubtless has descendants now living. 

Though King James could not be moved by mercy to Order 
the release of Sir Walter Ealeigh from the Tower, his cu- 
pidity was finally responsive to appeals in the prisoner's be- 
half. Ealeigh still had hopes of great wealth to be found in 
the Spanish possessions in Guiana, in South America, where 
he had voyaged before, in 1595, and James was not averse 
to having a chance at such a share as would fall by law into 
the Eoyal treasury, though too cowardly to hold himself 
answerable to Spain for having authorized the sailing of this 
expedition. Ealeigh was accordingly released from the Tower 
in 1616, and for the last time sailed westward on the 28th of 
March, 1617. With the eight thousand pounds allowed him 
for his lease on Sherborne Castle, with some purchase money 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 47 

which had been paid Lady Ealeigh for landed property held 
in her own right, and the sale of family plate, Raleigh risked 
his all in this expedition, though history sometimes ac- 
cuses him of going on this voyage when he knew it would 
be unsuccessful. While in the Tower he had agreed to either 
bring back a ton of rich gold ore from Guiana, or return and 
spend the remainder of his days in prison. Raleigh's flagship, 
the Destiny, was commanded by his son, Captain Walter 
Raleigh, and with him also sailed a nephew, Captain George 
Raleigh. Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to keep the destina- 
tion of his expedition a secret, but his confidence was be- 
trayed by the King himself in an attempt to shift from his 
own shoulders all blame in the eyes of the Spanish minister 
in London. Hence before Raleigh had gotten well out to 
sea, his destination was known in the Court of Madrid. King 
James had authorized Raleigh to seek gold in territory which 
he knew was then occupied by Spain. He likewise knew 
that the supposed feeling of the Devil for holy water was a 
Damon and Pythias friendship in comparison with the hatred 
which existed between English and Spanish colonists in the 
New W x orld, and yet he sought to convince Spain that he 
had no unfriendly motive in authorizing Raleigh to proceed 
westward. Raleigh's fleet finally reached the mouth of the 
Orinoco River, in South America; but there he became ill, 
and hence was unable to head the expedition which was 
preparing to march inland. The leadership of these land 
forces he confided to a veteran sailor who had been with him 
in Guiana before, Captain Laurence Keymis, with Captain 
George Raleigh, second in command. Keymis first met a 
Spanish force, which he routed, and then took possession 
of the town of San Thome. Further up the road towards 
the mines of which he was in search, another Spanish 
detachment was discovered to be in ambush, and so formid- 
able were their numbers that Keymis deemed it prudent to 



48 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

return to the ships. In the course of the fighting which had 
occurred Raleigh's son and namesake was killed. This young 
man had been a wild character in youth, but doubtless had 
gathered wisdom in his more mature years, as evidenced by 
so prudent a commander as his father entrusting him with 
important posts on both land and water during this expedi- 
tion. His death was of course a deep grief to his father. 
The failure of the expedition to the mines was a source of 
much disappointment to Raleigh, and his reproaches to 
Keymis caused the unfortunate Captain to commit suicide. 
The chances of success in Guiana now being most unfavorable, 
Raleigh made a voyage all the way to Newfoundland in order 
to re-fit and renew his efforts against the Spanish possessions 
in South Ameria. In Newfoundland a portion of his crew 
became mutinous, and he deemed it advisable to return to 
England, which he accordingly did. Prior to his return ; Don 
Diego Sarmientos de Acuna, Count Gondomar, diplomatic 
representative of Spain at the English Court had made formal 
complaint to King James on account of the breach of peace 
which had been committed by his fleet-commander at a time 
when no war existed between England and Spain, and had 
denounced Raleigh as a pirate. King James was then making 
every effort to effect a match between Prince Charles, his 
heir, and a Spanish princess, so he basely denied all responsi- 
bility for the expedition he had authorized, and issued a 
proclamation for the arrest of Raleigh, who was accordingly 
taken into custody and re-committed to the Tower. Says Mr. 
Harris, in the address already quoted: "A writ of Privy 
Seal was then despatched to the Judges, commanding them 
to order its [the former warrant's] execution. They shrank 
from the flagrant injustice. They declared that neither the 
writ of Privy Seal, nor even a warrant under the Great Seal, 
could authorize them, after so long an interval of time, to 
execute the sentence without first affording the prisoner an 



SIB WALTER RALEIGH. 



opportunity of pleading in person against it; and they re- 
solved to bring him to the bar by a writ of habeas corpus, to 
answer why execution should not be awarded against him." 
The King approved this plan, and Ealeigh was hurried from 
a sick bed to the bar at Westminster. It is needless to tell 
of the outcome of these proceedings, wherein, at the instiga- 
tion of Spain, an illustrious Englishmen was doomed to die 
on the false charge that he had— sixteen years before- 
plotted to dethrone King James in favor of Arabella Stuart, 
a claimant who then had the warm support of Spain. With 
all haste, James signed the death warrant, and Raleigh was 
led to the block in Palace Yard, on October 29th (No- 
vember 8th new style) 1618. On the day of execution 
the High Sheriff offered his prisoner a slight delay m order 
that he might warm himself before he said his prayers, but 
this offer was declined, Raleigh saying that an ague, to which 
he was subject, would soon come on again and cause his ene- 
mies to say that he quaked from fear. He met his death with 
courage and Christian fortitude. To a question from Dean 
Tounson, as to his religious belief, he replied that he died 
in the faith professed by the Church of England, and hoped 
to have his sins washed away by the precious blood of our 
Savior Christ. He carefully felt the edge of the executioner s 
axe remarking that it was "a sharp remedy but a cure for 
all diseases." As he was about to kneel on the block he was 
told to turn his face toward the east, but answered that it 
was "no matter how the head should lay if the heart were 
rio-ht " At the request of friends, however, he did face east- 
ward. Then he gave a signal, and the fatal blow was struck 
Soon after Ealeigh's death, when King James was still 
striving to effect a Spanish match for his son, he caused a 
letter to be written to one of his representatives in Spain, 
saying that he "had caused Sir Walter Raleigh to be put to 
death CHIEFLY for the giving them [the Spaniards] satis- 

4 



50 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 

faction." In commenting on this admission, Dr. Hawks truly 
observes: "No further evidence is necessary. Raleigh was 
murdered and James was his murderer." And the memory 
of Raleigh left its mark on the heart of that murderer ; for, 
in later years, when young Carew Raleigh was brought to 
Court by his kinsman, the Earl of Pembroke, that nobleman 
soon carried him therefrom because the conscience-stricken 
King was haunted by the lad's resemblance to his father, 
declaring that he "looked like Sir Walter Raleigh's ghost." 

In personal appearance Raleigh is represented to have been 
tall and well-proportioned, with thick curly locks, beard, and 
mustache, full red lips, bluish grey eyes, high forehead, and 
long bold face. A number of portraits of him were painted, 
among these being more than one by Federigo Zuccarro, a 
Florentine artist who lived in England during the reign of 
Elizabeth. One of the Zuccaro portraits was handsomely 
copied in oil, several years ago, by order of Mr. Walter F. 
Burns, who presented the reproduction to Chief Justice Clark, 
of the Supreme Court of this State. Though highly valuing 
this beautiful gift from an esteemed friend, the Chief Justice 
generously decided that a more appropriate place for it to be 
displayed would be the Mayor's Office in Raleigh, so he pre- 
sented it to that city. Mr. Burns, at whose order this copy 
was made, is a grandson of Captain Otway Burns, commander 
of the privateer Snapdragon in the War of 1812-'15, an 
American successor of the daring sea-rangers of the reign of 
Elizabeth. 

In an address delivered in the city of Raleigh before the 
State Literary and Historical Association of North Carolina, 
on November 4, 1909, the Right Honorable James Bryce, 
Ambassador from Great Britain to the United States, said, 
referring to those who have both made and written history: 
"Such an one was the famous man who may be called the 
first founder of North Carolina and whom you have fitly 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 51 

commemorated in the name of the chief city of your State — 
Sir Walter Raleigh. The adventurer is always an attractive 
type, because spirit, courage, and love of discovery have a 
perpetual fascination, and when the explorer or conqueror 
has aims not wholly selfish, we are glad to palliate his faults. 
Raleigh had his faults, but he was a fine specimen of the 
bold, versatile, keen-witted, large-visioned man of the Eliza- 
bethan age, not very scrupulous, but with gifts which engage 
our sympathy, and rich in intellectual power. He was both 
a man of action and a man of letters, and might, had cir- 
cumstances allowed, have shone as brightly in the latter as he 
did in the former field. He was a true Elizabethan in his 
intellectual culture, in his largeness of spirit, in his far- 
reaching imagination — a worthy contemporary of Shake- 
speare and Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser and 
Francis Bacon." 

Though North Carolina's capital city of Raleigh is, in 
itself, a monument "more lasting than brass," a plan is now 
on foot to erect in that city a bronze likeness of Sir Walter 
Raleigh that coming generations may behold the majestic 
form of this great fore-runner of English civilization in 
America. A sum something upwards of a thousand dollars 
(made up of small contributions) has already been placed 
in the hands of the treasurer of the association which is to 
erect this monument, Mr. Joseph G. Brown, President of the 
Citizens National Bank, of Raleigh, and this sum will doubt- 
less be increased to a proportion which will creditably carry 
out the patriotic plans of the promoters of this worthy enter- 
prise. 

In Dixon's work on the Tower of London, already quoted, 
that author says of the execution of Raleigh: "That day 
was thought to be a very sad day for Englishmen. The parti- 
sans of Spain went mad with joy. Yet the victory was not 
to Spain. A higher power than man's directs the course of 



*JOV 24 



SIK WALTER RALEIGH. 

a nation's life; the death of a hero is not a failure, for the 
martyr's blood is stronger than a thousand swords. The day 
of Raleigh's death was the day of a new English birth. Eliot 
was not the only youth of ardent soul who stood by the scaffold 
in Palace Yard, to note the matchless spirit in which the 
martyr met his fate, and to walk away from that solemnity — 
a new man. Thousands of men in every part of England, 
who had led a careless life, became, from that hour, the sleep- 
less enemies of Spain. The purposes of Raleigh were ac- 
complished in the very way his genius had contrived. Spain 
held the dominion of the sea, and England took it from her. 
Spain excluded England from the New World, and the genius 
of the New World is English." 

In closing these remarks I can not do better than quote the 
beautiful lines of North Carolina's most gifted poet, Henry 
Jerome Stockard, when treating of the same heroic character 
of whom I have spoken today : 

"And he still lives, the courteous and the brave, 
Whose life went out in seeming dark defeat. 
The Tower held not his princely spirit immured, 
But in those narrow dungeon walls he trod 
Kingdoms unlimited hy earthly zones, 
And from its dismal gates passed unafraid 
To an inheritance beyond decay, 
Stored in the love and gratitude of man. 
He lives in our fair city, noble State, 
Puissant land — in all each hopes to be! 
He lives in noble words and splendid dreams, 
In strenuous actions and in high careers, 
An inspiration unto loftier things." 



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